The engineered products exist specifically for two reasons. One, moisture. Two, wear layers. While real hardwood can be resurfaced, it's no small effort and very dirty to do so. Whereas the engineered products design in a wear layer. The lifetime of the product is determined by the thickness of that wear layer. Caution, some products distort (lie) about the actual thickness of their wear layer.
Hardwood flooring generally sucks in areas were water is likely; for example, kitchen, bathroom, and laundry room. Commonly this is why people use tile in these locations. Hardwood can rot, warp, and discolor. Whereas LVT is completely safe here.
If you're concerned about concrete moisture (vapor), you might want to take a test to determine just how much vapor you have coming up through your slab. If you have a lot of moisture coming up, there are products specifically designed to address this issue. It's called concrete vapor remediation. One such product I've applied requires resurfacing of the slab, manual grinding all areas within three inches of an edge, application of dissolved salts designed to close the newly opened concrete pores, followed by an epoxy layer which seals the surface. This treatment is commonly used in commercial and industrial settings (for example, applied in a major box store and hospital and pharmacy). If you have enough moisture it can literally blow common flooring products right off the slab. Just FYI, the flow of moisture through a slab is measured in gallons per hour. That should give you an idea of what's possible.
That said, even engineered flooring can be destroyed if too much moisture is coming through. This is why some type of moisture barrier and/or remediation is a requirement at certain levels. Likewise, depending on the type of flooring (if glue down), you must use the right kind of glue and apply as specified by the manufacturer to survive moisture. Wrong product or failure to apply as required can and does commonly result in total failure.
A good engineered flooring product really can't be beat. The new cool is LVT. But it's really about the thickness of the wear surface. This product was created to address the short comings of the other engineered flooring products. If you go this route, no matter what they tell you, put down a moisture barrier and a cushion barrier. Sometimes they have an all in one. Sometimes they sell a product which claims to be both but is really just a moisture barrier. If the LVT comes with a builtin "moisture/cushion barrier", you still want an actual lay down product, on which yours will rest. Assuming floating floor here.
Also, watch out for cost on the barriers. If you shop, you can find it much cheaper (25% of the cost or less) than most stores will sell it. IIRC, Lowes or Home Deport actually has a decent product which is much cheaper than most. But if you're not installing it, they may not allow it. Also caution here, as Lowes and Home Depot frequently sell crappy quality LVT with poor performing wear surfaces. IIRC, they might have one line each which is okay. But I'd recommend you go to a dedicated flooring store.
So you're saying he should just throw down some hamster bedding and call it a day.
Only if it comes with a wheel.
I'm planning on a combination of porcelain tile and LVT myself.
I really like ceramic and porcelain tile. I really like hardwood, but I've seen it go terrible too many times. All it takes is a dropped glass of water and you can be off to bad results. Even if minor.
A human-sized hamster wheel would be a very Avant-garde statement on the nature of a subterranean TV room.
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